Page 140 of Pucking Tangled
Mia rushed forward and hugged him.
Luca felt a warmth start in his chest and spread. His ribs ached from how tightly he’d been holding in all the nerves that came with opening up to his parents.
“Uh,” Waylon rubbed the back of his neck. “Not to encroach on Luca’s moment, but…”
Mia let him go, and Luca watched as she moved to Waylon’s side, taking his hand in hers. Somehow instinctively knowing what the other man needed. She was good like that.
“Since we agreed we weren’t going to keep secrets, it’s only right that I let you all know my parents arenoton board. Not by a long shot.”
Luca saw the hurt and heartache in his friend’s eyes. “Shit, brother. I’m?—”
Waylon held up a hand to cut him off. “I’ve told them, more than once, that I chooseus.I choose this life. I choose this relationship in all of its unconventional and messy glory. I made myself perfectly clear to them. Y’all are my family now. They can accept it, accept me, for who I am. Or they no longer get to be a part of my life.”
Without hesitation, they reached out and wrappedWaylon in a group hug. With Mia right there in the middle of it all.
“We’ve got your back,” Owen assured him.
“Fuck them, man. I’m sorry. But,fuckthem,” Casey added.
“You’re stuck with us,” Luca said.
“I love you, fuckers. All of you,” Waylon replied, choking back tears.
“We love you, too,” Mia replied softly.
Mia’s dad knocked on the door from inside the house, then cracked it open. “Sorry to interrupt, but the ladies want you to know dinner’s ready.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Mia smiled. “What do you say, boys? Let’s eat.”
The front doorclicked shut behind Mia and Casey’s parents.
Luca stood back and waited for a second longer than necessary, almost hoping they’d come back.
Not because he was afraid to be alone with his…whatever they were calling each other, but because he missed how warm and nostalgic-feeling it had been with them around. It drove home how much he missed his own parents.
He heard Waylon flop dramatically onto the couch. “I’m socially bankrupt. Don’t talk to me unless you have snacks or a blanket.”
Casey responded without missing a beat, “You’ve been snacking for the last three hours.”
“I said what I said.”
Luca turned toward the living room but didn’t move. His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders weirdly stiff. The house was warm, filled with familiar voices and easy rhythms, but something in him hadn’t quite clicked back into place.
Mia found him first.
Her hand slid into his without fanfare, her fingers curling instinctively around his.
“You okay?” she asked, eyes searching his face.
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think so. Just…processing.”
He glanced down at their joined hands. “You staying with me tonight?”
She didn’t hesitate, just gave him that small smile that made his heart squeeze. “Planned on it.”
“Thank you,” he said, quiet but certain.
Waylon grunted from the couch. “Okay, pajama time. And someone better start a movie. I’m not emotionally prepared to sit in silence with my own thoughts.”
